Colorado State University Professor Named Jefferson Science Fellow

Marvin Paule, a longtime professor of biochemistry and current chairman of Colorado State University’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, has been named a Jefferson Science Fellow by the U.S. Department of State.

Paule, who joined Colorado State in 1972, will serve a one-year term as a Jefferson Science Fellow, advising the State Department on foreign policy issues that are based in science such as, for example, issues surrounding genetically modified crops or the consequences of global diseases epidemics. Paule is one of eight researchers from across the nation selected as Jefferson Science Fellows for the 2007-2008 term.

This is the fourth group of Fellows selected since the program was established in 2003 as an initiative of the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State to further build capacity for science, technology and engineering expertise within the department.

At Colorado State, Paule has most recently focused his research on the area of the growth regulation of ribosomal RNA expression in normal and cancerous cells. Paule has also focused much of his career on educating students.

"This will be an exciting challenge," Paule said. "Much of my career has been focused on teaching and basic research, so this will be a departure from that into a new area."

Colorado State’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology is noted for discoveries in the fundamental mechanisms of how genes are expressed in eukaryotic cells, recently with an emphasis on epigenetic mechanisms; how the structure of biomolecules affects their functions; and on fundamental mechanisms of cellular functions, especially the role of the cytoskeleton in normal and diseased cells.

The Jefferson Science Fellowship program is based on the premise that science and technology make fundamental contributions to the security, economic, health and cultural foundations of modern societies and are integral to the development and implementation of foreign policy, according to the State Department. It was established to create opportunities for substantial engagement of tenured scientists and engineers from U.S. academic institutions in the work of the Department. Fellows serve one-year assignments working full time in the State Department or the U.S. Agency for International Development, then remain available to the department as consultants after returning to their academic careers.

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